Animal worship

thumb|upright|The [[Gayer-Anderson cat statue, representing the ancient Egyptian goddess Bastet. Cats in ancient Egypt were revered as deities.]]

Animal worship (also zoolatry or theriolatry) is an umbrella term designating religious or ritual practices involving animals. This includes the worship of animal deities or animal sacrifice. An animal 'cult' is formed when a species is taken to represent a religious figure. Animal cults can be classified according to their formal features or by their symbolic content.

The classical author Diodorus situated the origin of animal worship in a myth in which the gods, threatened by giants, disguised themselves as animals. The people then began to worship these animals and continued even after the gods returned to their normal state. In 1906, Weissenborn suggested that animal worship resulted from humans' fascination with the natural world. Primitive man would observe an animal that had a unique trait and the inexplicability would engender curiosity. Wonder resulted from primitive man's observations of this distinctive trait. As such, primitive man worshipped animals that had inimitable traits. The belief that an animal is sacred frequently results in dietary laws prohibiting their consumption. As well as holding certain animals to be sacred, religions have also adopted the opposite attitude, that certain animals are unclean.

The idea that divinity embodies itself in animals, such as a deity incarnate, and then lives on earth among human beings is disregarded by Abrahamic religions. Sects deemed heretical such as the Waldensians were accused of animal worship. In Pentecostal churches, animals have very little religious significance. Animals have become less and less important and symbolic in cult rituals and religion, especially among African cultures, as Christianity and Islamic religions have spread.

The Egyptian pantheon was especially fond of zoomorphism, with many animals sacred to particular deities—cats to Bastet, ibises and baboons to Thoth, crocodiles to Sobek and Ra, fish to Set, mongoose, shrew and birds to Horus, dogs and jackals to Anubis, serpents and eels to Atum, beetles to Khepera, bulls to Apis. Animals were often mummified as a result of these beliefs. In Wicca, the Horned God represents an animal-human deity.

Hunting cults

Bear

There is evidence that connects the Greek goddess Artemis with a cult of the bear. Girls danced as "bears" in her honour, and might not marry before undergoing this ceremony. Ancient bear bones have been discovered in several different caves and their peculiar arrangement is believed by some archaeologists to be evidence of a bear cult during the Paleolithic era.

thumb|upright=1.35|right|The [[Ainu people|Ainu Iomante ceremony (bear sending). Japanese scroll painting, circa 1870]]

The Ainu people, who live on select islands in the Japanese archipelago, call the bear "kamui" in their language, which translates to mean god. While many other animals are considered to be gods in the Ainu culture, the bear is the head of the gods. For the Ainu, when the gods visit the world of man, they don fur and claws and take on the physical appearance of an animal. Usually, however, when the term "kamui" is used, it essentially means a bear.

Whale

right|thumb|The largest whale skeleton in Vietnam at [[:vi:Vạn Thủy Tú|Vạn Thủy Tú temple, one of Vietnamese Whale worship in Vietnamese folk religions]]

Whales were little understood for most of human history as they spend up to 90% of their lives underwater, only surfacing briefly to breathe. Many cultures, even those that have hunted them, hold whales in awe and feature them in their mythologies.

A prevalent whale cult in Japan occurs around the coastal area. There are cemeteries with memorial stones dedicated to the whales which were hunted and killed to feed the people. Buddhist epitaphs mark these stones which implore that Buddha is reborn as a whale. For certain shrines, the bones of a perished whale were also deposited in the area. Some tribes bring the hump, the fins, or the nose of the whale into their camps or the whaler's house. These parts are meant to represent the entirety of the whale and are honored as such during the festival.

In the Tyrol region of Austria, it was said that if a sunbeam were to fall on a maiden entering womanhood, she would be carried away in the belly of a whale.

Paikea (also Maori name for humpback whales), the youngest and favourite son of the chief Uenuku from the island of Mangaia, in the present day Cook Islands, was said by the Kati Kuri people of Kaikōura to have come from the Pacific Islands on the back of the whale Tohora (Māori name for southern right whales

The whale features in Inuit creation myths. When 'Big Raven', a deity in human form, found a stranded whale, he was told by the Great Spirit where to find special mushrooms that would give him the strength to drag the whale back to the sea and thus return the order to the world.

In Icelandic legend, a man threw a stone at a fin whale and hit the blowhole, causing the whale to burst. The man was told not to go to sea for twenty years, but in the nineteenth year he went fishing and a whale came and killed him.

In East African legend, King Sulemani asked God that he might permit him to feed all the beings on earth. A whale came and ate until there was no corn left and then told Sulemani that he was still hungry and that there were 70,000 more in his tribe. Sulemani then prayed to God for forgiveness and thanked the creature for teaching him a lesson in humility. Japanese (also known as Ebisu), occasionally hold funerals for beached whales; a throwback to Vietnam's ancient sea-based Austro-Asiatic culture. See also the below-mentioned Ebisu in fish part for more details. In some lore, whales have been told to work for Ryūgū-jō as well.

Indigenous Ainu tribes on Hokkaido revered killer whales as Repun Kamuy, "God of Sea/Offshore" in their folklore and myths that the deities will bring fortunes (whales) to coastal people.

Domesticated mammals

Cattle and buffalo

thumb|A statue of [[Nandi (mythology)|Nandi at the Lord Shiva Temple in Kanipakam]]

Many religions have considered cattle to be sacred, most famously Hinduism from India and Nepal, but also Zoroastrianism, and ancient Greek and Egyptian religion. Cattle and buffalo are respected by many pastoral peoples that rely on the animals for sustenance and the killing of an ox is a sacrificial function. The humped zebu, a breed of cow, is central to the religion of Hinduism. Such myths have included the creation of a divine cow mother and cow heaven by the God, Brahma and Prithu, the sovereign of the universe, who created the earth's vegetation, edible fruits, and vegetables, disguised as a cow. Margul suggests that the sanctity of the cow is based on four foundations: abstaining from cow slaughter, abstaining from beef consumption, control of breeding and ownership, and belief in the purification qualities of cow products (milk, curd, ghee, dung, and urine).

Sheep

thumb|A Sumerian group of two separate shell inlay fragments forming the body and head of a sheep. Circa 27th–24th century BC. From a Mayfair gallery, London, UK

The Ancient Egyptians worshipped several gods with the head of a ram, including Khnum, Heryshaf, Banebdjedet, Ra (sometimes) and Kherty. Amun, the god of Thebes, Egypt, was also associated with the ram, and in later periods was sometimes represented as ram-headed. His worshippers held the ram to be sacred, however, it was sacrificed once a year. Its fleece formed the clothing of the idol.

Goat

thumb|left|Pavement mosaic with the head of Pan. Roman artwork, Antonine period, 138–192 CE

Silenus, the Satyrs, and the Fauns were either capriform or had some part of their bodies shaped like that of a goat. In northern Europe the wood spirit, Leszi, is believed to have a goat's horns, ears and legs. This type of worship has sometimes been said to have originated from the goat's increased sex drive. One male goat was capable of fertilizing 150 females. These findings have been used as evidence for a goat cult in Asia originating either in the Neolithic or Bronze Ages.

thumb|Heavenly horse. Bronze ceremonial finial produced during the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom.

There is some reason to believe that Poseidon, like other water gods, was originally conceived under the form of a horse. In the cave of Phigalia Demeter was, according to popular tradition, represented with the head and mane of a horse, possibly a relic of the time when a non-specialized corn-spirit bore this form. Her priests were called Poloi (Greek for "colts") in Laconia. The mule and the horse are sacred to the Roman god Consus. In Gaul we find a horse-goddess, Epona. There are also traces of a horse god, Rudiobus. Hayagriva is a horse-headed deity that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism. The Gonds in India worship a horse god, Koda Pen, in the form of a shapeless stone, but it is not clear that the horse is regarded as divine. The horse or mare is a common form of the corn spirit in Europe. Along with the Balkan swaddling, Virgil's Aeneid bases the founding of the great city of Carthage upon a horse. When the Phoenicians dug up a horse head from the ground they decided to build their city (Carthage) upon that spot because the horse was a sign of success. This holiday is to honor the goddess Pārvatī. During this celebration, a clay elephant is prepared (most likely to celebrate Pārvatī's creation of Ganesha from a paste of either turmeric or sandalwood. Every day, unmarried women worship this elephant by dancing, singing songs, and abstaining from eating salt. On the final day of Alunām, the clay elephant is immersed in some body of water. Stone elephant figurines were built as "seats of the souls" in the Sumatran culture.

In Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese folklores, foxes (huli jing in China, kitsune in Japan, kumiho in Korea, and hồ ly tinh in Vietnam) are powerful spirits that are known for their highly mischievous and cunning nature, and they often take on the form of female humans to seduce men. In contemporary Chinese, the word huli jing is often used to describe a mistress negatively in an extramarital affair. In Shinto of Japan, kitsune sometimes help people as an errand of their deity, Inari.

Popular fox worship during the Tang dynasty has been mentioned in a text entitled Hu Shen (Fox gods):

The fox cult survived in northern China in the 20th century, but was suppressed during the anti-superstition Socialist Education Campaign.

Big cats

thumb|upright=0.8|Granite statue of the lion-headed Egyptian deity [[Sekhmet from the temple of Mut at Luxor, dating to 1403–1365 BC, exhibited in the National Museum of Denmark]]

The cult of the leopard is widely found in West Africa. Among the Ashanti people a man who kills one is liable to be put to death; no leopard skin may be exposed to view, but a stuffed leopard is worshipped. On the Gold Coast, a leopard hunter who has killed his victim is carried around the town behind the body of the leopard; he may not speak, must besmear himself so as to look like a leopard and imitate its movements. In Loango a prince's cap is put upon the head of a dead leopard, and dances are held in its honour. In later periods, other feline deities were more dominant. There were several lion-headed deities, included goddesses such as Sekhmet, Tefnut, Bastet (early form), Pakhet, Mehit and Menhit, and gods such as Maahes. All of these were fierce deities, dedicated to destroying the enemies of the gods and the pharaoh. Sekhmet, the most famous Egyptian lion-goddess, was considered a daughter of the chief god Ra and was worshipped as a beneficent goddess who protected Egypt from pestilence and misfortune, though at the same time was greatly feared due to her destructive capabilities, as demonstrated in the Book of the Heavenly Cow. Bastet, formerly called Bast, was originally worshipped as a fierce lioness, though in later times was 'tamed' and worshipped as a gentler domestic cat. During the Late Period of ancient Egypt from 664 BC until the 4th century AD, the practice of mummifying small cats in Bastet's honour grew in popularity. Cat mummies were used as votive offerings to the goddess, mostly during festivals and by pilgrims. Hundreds of thousands of cat mummies were excavated at cat cemeteries in Bubastis, Saqqara, Speos Artemidos and Gizeh.

There was a lion god at Baalbek. The pre-Islamic Arabs worshipped the lion god Yaghuth. In modern Africa there is a lion-idol among the Balondo. with stripes over its forehead frequently redrawn to form the character for king (). The tiger was originally paired and contrasted with the dragon in Chinese myth, literature, art, and martial arts to represent the yin-yang as well as the dualities of earth and water, west and east, matter and spirit, although by the late imperial era the dragon was instead taken to represent yang and paired with the phoenix as the symbol of feminine yin instead. The White Tiger is one of the four cardinal symbols of Chinese astrology and traditional astronomy, representing autumn and the west The Han sometimes depicted Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, with the tail of a tiger and once wore stone representations of tigers as protective amulets. A similar attraction with an Yi tiger totem is located in Chuxiong, Yunnan. The towns of Shuangbai County in Chuxiong Prefecture preserve a traditional dance that originated in rituals related to tiger worship.

In many parts of Vietnam, the tiger is a revered creature with many villages having a tiger temple. This Vietnamese folk religion might have stem from the fear of tigers used to raid human settlements in ancient times. Tigers are admired for their great strength, ferocity, and grace. The tiger is also considered a guardian deity. Tiger statutes are also seen at the entrance of temples and palaces, keeping evil spirits from entering those places.

The tiger is associated with the Hindu deities Shiva and Durga. In Pokhara, Nepal, the tiger festival is known as Bagh Jatra. Celebrants dance disguised as tigers and are "hunted". There were rituals that involved the hawk when the natives wished to make decisions about certain events, such as journeys from home, major agricultural work, and war. This particular bird was "a heavenly deity; its wings were the sky, the sun and moon were its eyes". Other Egyptian deities shown in the form of a hawk or hawk-headed man include Qebehsenuef, Sopdu, Ra (not always), and Sokar.

Egypt was not the only location of hawk worshippers. There were several other cultures that held the hawk in high regard. The hawk was a deity on the island of Hawaii and symbolized swift justice. The Frigate-Bird was a representation of the god Make-make, the god of the seabird's egg on Easter Island.]]

In the Hindu epic Ramayana, Jatayu, the "King of Vultures"(gṛdhrarāja), fights valiantly with the rakshasa Ravana to prevent him from abducting Sita. However, as Jatayu was very old, Ravana soon defeated him, clipping his wings, and Jatayu descended upon the earth. Rama and Lakshmana, while searching for Sita, chanced upon the stricken and dying Jatayu, who informed them of the battle with Ravana, and told them that Ravana had headed south. Jatayu then died of his wounds and Rama performed his final funeral rites. Jatayu's elder brother Sampati later helps Rama and Lakshmana find Sita.

Jatayu is worshipped at the Vijayaraghava Perumal temple (Thiruputkuli, Tamil Nadu), which is believed to be the site where he fell.

Other non-mammals

Serpents

thumb|upright=0.8|right|The altar where serpent deities are worshipped in a temple in [[Belur, Karnataka|Belur, Karnataka, India]]

thumb|right|Quetzalcoatl depicted as a snake devouring a man, from the [[Codex Telleriano-Remensis.]]

The worship of the serpent is found in many parts of the Old World, and in the Americas. The Manasa cult in Bengal, India, however, was dedicated to the anthropomorphic serpent goddess, Manasa.

In Africa the chief centre of serpent worship was Dahomey. But the cult of the python seems to have been of exotic origin, dating back to the first quarter of the 17th century. By the conquest of Whydah, the Dahomeyans were brought in contact with a people of serpent worshippers and ended by adopting from them the beliefs which they at first despised. At Whydah, the chief centre, there is a serpent temple, tenanted by some fifty snakes. Every python of the danh-gbi kind must be treated with respect, and death is the penalty for killing one, even by accident. Danh-gbi has numerous wives, who until 1857 took part in a public procession from which the profane crowd was excluded; a python was carried around the town in a hammock, perhaps as a ceremony for the expulsion of evils. The rainbow god of the Ashanti was also conceived to have the form of a snake. His messenger was said to be a small variety of boa. But only specific individuals, not the whole species, were sacred. In many parts of Africa, the serpent is looked upon as the incarnation of deceased relatives. Among the Amazulu, as among the Betsileo of Madagascar, certain species are assigned as the abode of certain classes. The Maasai, on the other hand, regard each species as the habitat of a particular family of the tribe. Ebisu, in later traditions, normally appeared in the form of a fisherman holding a fishing pole and carrying a red tai (a perch), but would sometimes take the form of a whale, shark, human corpse, or rock.

During Ebisu-gami festivals, there have been legends told of strange fish creatures which have arrived and been considered sacred. Examples of such fish creatures include familiar species of fish with multiple tails. Parrot astrology is a form of divination using green parakeets which originated in South India and is still practiced in modern times.

In Chinese and Japanese folk religion, the tortoise is an oracular animal. Tortoise shells were used by ancient Chinese as oracle bones to make predictions.

A popular North American tradition is Groundhog Day, in which on February 2 each year a groundhog is used to predict whether there will be an early spring.

Notable oracular animals of the modern period include Lady Wonder, Punxsutawney Phil, Maggie the Monkey, Lazdeika the Crab, Paul the Octopus, and Sonny Wool.

Shamanism and animals

Animals were an important aspect of the Shaman religion in Central Asia. Also known as "assistant spirits," "guardian spirits," and "helping spirits," animal spirits are an integral part of a shaman's work. The more animal spirits a shaman had under his control, the more powerful the shaman. When a shaman set out to journey spiritually to the outer world, animals were a key component, assisting him in his work. There were three primary reasons for a shaman to take such a journey: to find a lost soul, to bring an animal spirit to the high gods, or to lead a soul to its new resting place in the underworld. All of these were extremely important to followers of shamanism and animals were extremely important in facilitating the shaman's efforts.

An example of animal spirits in Shamanism comes from the Yenisei Ostiaks culture. During a healing procedure, a shaman invokes a number of animal spirits to help him. The spirits arrive and enter his body. The shaman is not possessed by these spirits; he is free to expel them at any time. His body begins to leap all over the place, symbolizing that his soul is rising, leaving the earth and going up to the sky. It is a bird spirit that is lifting him through the atmosphere and he cries for it to take him higher so he can see further. According to Adolf Friedrich, at this point the shaman's essence has, in fact, transformed into the bird spirit that crossed the threshold into his body. The importance of animals in this shamanic religion is shown by the capabilities that animals grant to human beings. Without the assistance of animals, humans from Inner Eurasia were not capable of reaching the sky, traveling rapidly throughout the earth, or going beneath the earth's outer crust, all of which were important activities to the culture. According to Buddhist belief, humans do not deserve preferential treatment over other living beings. Thus, the world is not specifically meant for human use and should be shared equally amongst all creatures. Buddhists recognize that all animals are sentient and are capable of feeling pain, grief, fear, happiness, and hunger. The Dalai Lama once said "Even ants and other insects will run away from danger... They have intelligence and want to live too. Why should we harm them?". Not believing in inflicting harm on any living, sentient being, some Buddhists also follow a vegetarian diet to avoid causing pain to animals.

Avoiding the destruction of life can affect aspects beyond a Buddhist's diet, such as travel plans. In order to avoid crushing any living thing, be it plant, insect, or animal, some Buddhist monks do not travel during rainy seasons. Originally, shortly after Buddhism was first founded, monks traveled during all seasons, but public opinion changed this. The people protested that so much life was crushed and destroyed when monks traveled during the wet season. As a result, monks were required to seek shelter during this season and abstain from journeys.

Living creatures, including humans, culminate to form one large, united life force in the Buddhist religion. Buddhists, therefore, believe that to harm another living creature is to, in fact, harm yourself as all life forms are interrelated. There are many tales that depict humans sacrificing their lives so that an animal may live. A jataka, or previous incarnation story, tells how the Buddha, (upon hearing the distraught cries of a lioness struggling to feed her hungry cubs), leapt from a cliff and smashed his body to death as an offering so that she could feed his flesh to them.

Hinduism

Hinduism is one of the six primary religions of India. Hinduism has evolved over several centuries from Vedic times when there was no restriction on animal worship and also animal consumption for food, to later Buddhist and Jain-influenced eras that led to a wider concept adoption of non-violence or ahimsa and respect for animals, as a major constituent in Dharmic belief systems. Humans and animals are believed to be one family and therefore, humans should treat all living creatures with respect and kindness. It is also believed that human beings themselves re-incarnate as animals based on their deeds or karma. Pets are often treated as if they are truly members of the family.

There are some exceptions to ahimsa in Hinduism—mainly dealing with religious rituals to please gods on special occasions and for daily sustenance. While Hindu belief proscribes the slaughter for human pleasure or lavishness , animal sacrifice has been an accepted ritual in some parts of India. An example of such lavishness would be hunting for pleasure, a fur coat made from animal skin, etc. An explanation for this supposed paradox is that a sacrificial animal is not really considered to be an animal, but a symbol. Thus, when the animal is sacrificed, they are sacrificing the symbol and not the animal.

Inca Empire

The Inca Empire, the most well-known indigenous group of people in South America, had a strong religious relationship with animals in their environment, believing that they were the gods presenting themselves to the Incas. This was reflected in the form of ceramics such as Huaco and in metalwork such as the "Inca Silver Alpaca".

One Incan animal god is the Urcuchillay, who was worshipped by herders. He was believed to take the shape of a multi-colored llama who watched over the livestock. Urcuchillay was believed to be essential for the health of the herd, the resources from the herd, and the health of the next generation of the herd. Pariacaca (Paryaqaqa), the Incan god of water and rainstorms, was believed to have been born a falcon but later became human. The Incas believed if they upset this god, he would bring floods. Little is known about Pariacaca. Mama Cocha, (Cochamama) or the Mother of the Ocean, is the Incan goddess of the sea and sea animals. She was heavily worshipped by sailors and fishermen who wanted to ensure a great supply of fish and sought her help in navigating the storms and calming the seas. She was believed to be the mother of Inti (Sun God) and Mama Killa (Goddess of the Moon).

Jainism

Mahavira, the 24th Teerthankar of Jainism, believed that the only way to be released from the cycle of life (birth, death, and then rebirth), one must follow ahimsa and not harm any living creature. Some Jains will carry a broom with them and sweep their path as they walk to avoid stepping on any living creature. Jains will also wear masks over their mouths to prevent swallowing insects and inspect their fruit for worms. The fruit inspection is not, however, because of their aversion to worms, but for the protection of the worms themselves. Jains are also only allowed to eat during daylight hours when their vision is not restricted so that they avoid eating insects or other small creatures that could possibly be in their food.

Jainism includes a lay form that is somewhat less restrictive. Basically lay Jains must distinguish between what forms of violence are necessary and unnecessary, but do not have to abstain entirely. This results in avoiding all forms of hunting, tilling the soil (tilling involved disturbing creatures embedded in the earth), and brewing (brewing involved using living organisms such as yeasts).

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